Today is Earth Day, an observance begun in 1970 by then-Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson in an attempt to spread awareness of environmental issues. It’s grown since that start to being on the calendar in 192 countries. And on its 40th anniversary, it’s beginning to take on the trappings of a greeting card holiday. The mere existence of Earth Day greeting cards available from companies that don’t focus on the environment is only part of that.

Twitter’s trending topics as I type this lists “Happy Earth Day” as the most popular worldwide. I find that strange. No, actually, I find it silly. You put the word happy in front of words and phrases like birthday, holidays, and new year. Days on which you celebrate and have a good time. Party holidays, in short. Earth Day is not a party holiday. You can throw one, sure, but I’m not sure I see the point of doing something which in and of itself is wasteful extravagance on a day meant to remind people that resources are finite. Yes, there are safer forms of paper plates and cups and potato plastic cutlery. That’s beside the point.

I’m not saying that people need to be all solemn and dark and such. It’s a day to pay respect. Respect the planet we live on. The one that keeps us alive. Acting like nothing we do has a long-term impact is the worst you can do on a day like this, or any day for that matter. Behaving as if a reminder that we are part of a system that needs to be treated with more respect than we’ve paid it as a species over the centuries is a reason to be perky and nothing more is nearly as bad. The last thing we need is to act like we only have to nod and wink at the day’s existence to be doing anything about it.

So I bid you a good Earth Day. Try to recycle that can you throw away most days. I know I should. And if you do host a gathering to discuss environmental issues, I beg you, check the labels on the throwaway products you buy for it, if any. The irony levels you keep from overloading may be your own.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH1eUI25Yqg )